A Quick update on The Olsen’s 2014 (Not the detail, just the basics)
Wow! Did this year go fast! It was really a transitional year for our family, dominated by Keziah switching to public high school (6 blocks away) alone from a Christian School (6 miles away) with her brother and friends for the last 9 years. For the first time ever, our family is now in 4 different places every day. At the same time it has been a growth year as both of them have had significant physically growth spurts in the past few months. Carolyn is adjusting to now officially being the shortest in our family. ;-)
JANUARY:
- We started the year with a really great family trip to Yosemite. We called it 50-60-70 because it was the 50th year of my Mom's first visit, the 60th year of , and the 70th year of My Grandma's first visit.
- We also hosted a citywide/cross-denominational ordination for Marcus Little. Oh, wow! How beautiful the Body of Christ was that day!
- Mass Casualty drill at John Wayne Airport with my Mom!
FEBRUARY: Keziah made it to regionals for the Spelling Bee!
MARCH: One of Nathan's many camping trips with the Boy Scouts!
APRIL:
- We celebrated Good Friday with 5 congregations with a Tenebrae service followed by a really good Wake meal.
- I love that I get to work as a chaplain for the City of Orange Fire Department. (That's me in the white hat.)
JUNE:
- Keziah graduated from 8th grade at Mariners Christian School after 8 Years! Wow! Several well deserved awards.
- Family vacation in Florida- parks, beaches, Cape Canaveral. Lots of rest and playtime.
- 9 congregations joined together for a Pentecost Picnic in one of the city parks to celebrate the birthday of the Body of Christ. Nathan won the most awards, including the watermelon eating contest. The Body of Christ was awesome in action!
JULY: We hosted over 600 kids from all over North America for a week! They did service projects for our partners in the city and stayed at Chapman University! Yahoo! It was so awesome that the mayors of both Orange AND Anaheim came to greet the students.
- Beach camping at El Moro with the Hellriegels
- Backyard gutted- don't even ask!
SEPTEMBER:
- Keziah started 9th grade at Foothill High School
- Nathan started 7th grade at Mariners Christian School
- Ric Begins travel with Future Travelers in Ohio and has a really great reunion with great buddies: Scott Brooks & Kent Steiner and their families.
- Switched to 1st Sundays leading worship at a senior home together as a family. Great Grandma Peggy joined us.
OCTOBER:
- Secured a Home Depot grant for the renovation of a Senior Veteran's home in partnership with Home Depot and Janitor's for Jesus!
DECEMBER:
- 6th: Our annual Random Acts of Kindness day in honor of St. Nickolas followed by a great family dinner and gift exchange.
- 7th: Hosted the Children's Winter Wonderland with 4 other congregations for the City of Orange's 20th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. So fun! If you are in town, you need to come visit.
- Had a combined worship service after the ceremony with 12-15 congregations attending and commissioned 3 new congregations in prayer.
It has also been a really sweet family time as the new
maturity has developed into new and deeper conversations with our kids.
Keywords in the life
of our family for this year:
Nathan- (12 years
old - 7th grade) Robots, Trains, Knex, campouts, Boy Scouts, growth
(6 inches in 6 months (not even sure that’s healthy)), innovative, resourceful,
Keziah- (14 years
old - 9th grade) Adventure, Violin, Venture Scouts, cooking,
knitting, worship leading (@ youth group with guitar), joyful,
Carolyn
& Ric- (going on 17 years) We are grateful and feeling very blessed
for each other, our kids, the congregation we get to be apart of and the great
people we get to do life with.
As you can tell, it has been a very eventful year for us! Thanks for your friendship!
We love you all and trust your 2015 will be blessed!
We love you all and trust your 2015 will be blessed!
